Buying your puppy from a breeder who takes pride in producing well bred, genetically sound puppies from tested, purebred stock is the best way of insuring yourself that you and your new companion will spend many happy years together. However, in order to make those years healthy and productive, an appropriate diet must be fed.
Not one diet is 100% perfectly complete for every dog. Dogs are individuals. Like people, some need more protein to feel and act their best. Some need more carbohydrate than others. Some are best on grain free diets, some need grain in order to have firm healthy stool and maintain weight. Through trial and error, you will learn the best diet for your individual dog.
The rule of thumb when looking for a good food, is not price, because the best is not always the most expensive ( the exception to this is your best choice is NEVER the cheapest food you can find). The things to look for are no byproducts (this is not only parts, but can legally include nasty and diseased parts), little or NO colorings (it causes Cancer and Tumors in us, same goes for the animals), try to stay away from lots of grains (corn, corn middlings, rice hulls) these are just fillers, and sometimes can be not good for your pet in too great a quantity. The generic fats are questionable, animal fat is not as good as fat from one source, say chicken or fish. Don't be sucked in to that nonsense about the "Rating System". Perfectly good foods can get low ratings because they have generic fats. There are much greater sins, like the first three ingredients are grains, or variations of a grain. ( i.e. Rice, Rice Hulls, Rice Flour )
I feed a good Quality kibble, and add small amounts of 35% FOOD GRADE peroxide to my dog's daily water. To the diet fed at SmallTown, I add a dinner of RAW meat at least once a week. With this food, I'm able to maintain an entire kennel of dogs in peak health, with very few illnesses, and beautiful healthy teeth and coats. I've seen allergies disappear and skin heal in mere days. I visit the vet far less frequently that I used to. If I do happen to have an illness or injury with one of the dogs, I simply up the Collodial Silver I give for infections. Granted, it is more expensive to feed this way up front, but by doing this, I've saved literally hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year in vet visits and treatment. So when it comes to feeding your best friend, whether dog or cat, I beg you, do not skimp and buy grocery store food, supposing that will be good enough. Good Enough could lead to hundreds of dollars in vet bills for illnesses that could have been avoided.
I'm pretty holistic in my approach to care of my dogs. If the dog's God given immune system can heal it without artificial stimulation from medicines that can actually suppress the body's natural healing ability, then that's how I will go. I use whole foods, things like 35% food Grade peroxide(water with 1 extra water molecule) and Colloidal Silver (water infused with Silver)
